Supporting pupils bereaved by COVID-19
Transcript of Supporting pupils bereaved by COVID-19
Supporting pupils bereaved by COVID-19• Welcome to this webinar!
• We are due to start at 9.30 am
• For the best experience, we advise you to switch off other streaming devices
• Take a moment to test your own video and audio
• We will be with you shortly
Introduction
• We are expecting that more children and young people are likely to have experienced bereavement through the effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) over the next couple of months
• This Webinar aims to offer support to schools or settings and parents and carers on how best to support children and young people who have experienced loss at this uncertain time
Chloe GibsonEducation
Psychologist
Jennie HattanJigsaw SE
Maria DawesCEO Schools Alliance
for Excellence
COVID-19 and Bereavement
Chloe GibsonSurrey Education Psychologist
Aims
To consider the grieving process and specifically in isolation
To increase confidence in supporting bereaved youngsters
To look at what can help and sources of support
Principles
Grief is a normal reaction to loss.
Most young people do not need grief
counselling but need support.
Young people are active in constructing their recovery from
loss.
Experience of loss is unique so the young person’s perspective must be considered.
A knowledge base of loss and bereavement
is empowering to those giving support.
The Grieving Process
• There are many models aiming to illustrate the process. The process is different for each individual, based on their experiences.
• The seven stage model gives some ideas of the feelings and stages which an individual may encounter when grieving .
Normal grief responses
Cognitive/thinking Emotional Physical Behavioural
Grieving and isolation
Being bereaved can be an extremely lonely experience
Grief at this time if further impacted by social distancing/self isolation
The impact of dealing with a bereavement compounded by feelings
of worry about external situations beyond your control could mean that
feelings of grief may not be fully expressed
Current climate means that school communities are dramatically altered
with children and young people now at home. This reduces the structure and
routine in their lives and their exposure to their friends and peer group all of which can help during
grieving
Children may already be experiencing anxiety because of the current
situation and as a result may show a stronger reaction to death and may
worry that others close to them may die
Explaining someone has died through CORONAVIRUS
How to speak to children about death
Although COVID-19 is an new situation the general advice on talking to children about death remains the same and this includes:
Use simple language appropriate to the child’s developmental age
Use the terms ‘died’, ‘death’ and ‘dead’ and avoid euphemisms
Keep children informed about what has happened and be as honest as possible
Answer questions openly and if you don’t know the answer say you will find out and come back to them
Reassure them that they are not to blame
Listen to their feelings, worries, memories
Complicating factors to be aware of in CURRENT CLIMATE
There are some factors about death from COVID-19 that may
impact on children
1. Suddenness – children may have very little time to prepare as people may get sick and die
quite rapidly
2. Distance – children won’t be able to visit or spend time with the dying relative. They won’t
be able to touch or hug them or be in the same space
3. Unpredictability – it is not only the old and frail people
who are dying. People who they know who appeared perfectly
well before they contracted the virus may die
4. Separation – Children may not have support mechanisms in place from those who might normally support them such as
school, friends, wider family members, commuity
Complicated Factors
A lack of normality to routine means that children have fewer opportunities to
switch off and focus on something else for example
school, sport, clubs
Absence of rituals – less chance to say ‘goodbye’
Constant reminder – hard to get away from news,
social media
Anxiety – worry about other family members dying
Identifying individuals who may be at risk
Directly involved
Witnesses
Siblings/relations
Close friendships
Pre existing bereavement/ trauma
Pre existing mental health issues
Pre existing home instability/stress
Leaning difficulties
Culture and/or language barriers
Any perceived culpability/responsibility (especially related to virus spread)
How can we help
Active Listening Relational contagion Connection
Active Listening can be defined as;
Having eye contact with
the person who is speaking
Giving full attention
Sitting quietly without
distracting the person who is
speaking
Focussing on the speaker’s
needs
Showing that you understand
Letting the speaker express
feelings without
interruptions or putdowns.
Show you are listening by
smiling, nodding etc at
the appropriate times.
Communicating acceptance-
that no matter what is said the speaker is still
OK.
Relational Contagion
Emotions are contagious. Perry informs us that, “The same way anxiety and panic is
contagious, so is calm…Don’t underestimate your power to bring calm to others
When supporting children who have been bereaved one of the best ways to support is to model calmness and help contain the emotional responses of others
Connection
Connecting with others is one of our greatest tools. Perry tells us, “The most powerful buffer in times of stress and distress is our social connectedness; so let’s all remember to stay physically distant but emotionally close.
Reach out and connect.” Handling such unprecedented circumstances is nearly impossible on our own. It is ok to reach out, seek help, and accept assistance. Taking care of our own needs is vital when it comes to meeting the needs of our children. An unregulated child cannot be regulated by an unregulated parent.
Sources of Support
Coronavirus: How schools can support children and young people (Winston’s Wish)
Coronavirus: How to say goodbye when a funeral isn’t possible (Winston’s Wish)
Bereavement: Advice and information for parents (Young Minds)
Coronavirus: Grief and Trauma (Cruse)
Resources for children and young people (Child Bereavement UK)
Support from Educational Psychology Service
Short term: during school
closures
• signposting to resources
• providing support remotely about how best to manage communications around loss
• Supporting schools with managing communication processes
Medium term: when schools
return
• Further support and information about how to support pupils and staff after transition back to school
Your Questions
Bereavement support within schools during
Covid 19
Prevalence pre COVID 19
Child Bereavement Network estimate that in 2015, 23,600 parents died in the UK, leaving dependent children (23,200 in 2014).
That's one parent every 22 minutes.
We calculate that this equates to 600 children in Surrey every year.
By the age of 16, 1 in 20 young people will have experienced the death of one or both of their parents (Parsons, 2011).
1 in 30 children will have experienced a bereavement (1 in every class).
What does good support look like?
http://www.childhoodbereavementnetwork.org.uk/media/96900/grief-matters-for-children-2017.pdf
School support
Jigsaw
Specialist
School's role in bereavement support
Whilst schools consistently report bereavement support was important, there was less clarity in the role that schools should take.
Teachers voiced a desire to support bereaved children but expressed finding themselves ill prepared for dealing with loss and worried about causing them further distress.
These concerns seemed to be a significant hindering factor in encouraging schools to offer such support and staff generally requested more training on how to support bereaved children.
(Winston' Wish, 2019)
Supporting pupils during school closures
For those facing the loss of a loved one
Establish a route of contact and agree when and how often to get in touch
Offer flexibility and support with school work
Have resources to hand to share with the family
Consider offering the child access to school
Supporting pupils during school closures
For those recently bereaved
Keep in touch
Keep a routine
Listen and reassure
Keep remote support going through chosen
contacts
Don't forget those who were bereaved prior to
Covid-19 – this may be a time of heightened
anxiety or complicated grief
Preparations for the return to school
Consider allocating a bereavement lead within each school
Create a network that can support these bereavement leads
Review current school policies, guidance and available support
Do you know which pupils or staff have been bereaved during closure?
What about those who have a terminally ill member of the family?
How is this recorded?
What support is available for them?
Preparations for the return to schoolLaunched in November 2019
Whole-school framework, free to primary and secondary, special and mainstream schools across the UK.
The programme aims to help schools plan ahead to support pupils facing or following the death of someone important in their live
Prepare pupils to manage loss and bereavement in their lives.
http://www.childhoodbereavementnetwork.org.uk/campaigns/growing-in-grief-awareness.aspx
Audit and Action Plan
Downloadable tool to audit current practice
An automatically populated action plan tailored to the school’s needs
Targeted resources to help address bereavement
Links to local and national specialist training and support organisations
Preparing for Loss
For children and young people aged 0-19, who have a family member with a life-threatening condition.
Initial meeting at home via telephone or video link
Individual support for children and young people via telephone or video link where appropriate.
Telephone advice and information
Signposting to other agencies and organisations
Information, resources and support to professionals working with families
Grief Support
Early grief support and reassurance to families, around the loss of a loved one, by telephone or video link
Information and advice around funerals
Signposting to other agencies and organisations, e.g. for financial advice, coronavirus and its impact on children and families
Peer to peer support
Ongoing support to families – piloting our support online
How can Jigsaw (South East) help?
Support to families – new helpline
Provide support for network of bereavement leads – disseminate up to date advice and resources
Provide bereavement training that meets your requirements right now
What do you
think?
Polls: Bereavement Training
Thank you to Schools Alliance for Excellence for inviting us to take part today
Thank you to schools for all your amazing work supporting children and young people
Your Questions
Promoting Wellbeing: A Long term Approach
A Surrey Healthy Schools Approach to wellbeing and achievement:
• promotes the whole health of the individual, enabling our communities to thrive
• supports services, partners and schools by highlighting and joining up a wide range of elements which can positively impact outcomes for children and young people
All Surrey schools can access the Surrey online Healthy Schools Self-Evaluation Tool.
For more information visit: https://www.healthysurrey.org.uk/healthy-schools
Supporting pupils bereaved by COVID-19
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